(CNN) - Nearly all of the staff at the oldest two-year college in Texas was furloughed Wednesday morning because of "financial and liquidity difficulties," according to a letter sent by the college to its staff and obtained by CNN.

Lon Morris College, a faith-based private school in Jacksonville, Texas, with an enrollment of slightly more than 1,000 students, notified its employees that - with the exception of a core group of 11 - all staff would be furloughed indefinitely. About 100 employees are on the school's payroll, according to local news affiliates.

"Given insufficient cash flow, the college cannot continue to employ personnel and further cannot allow employees to continue to work even on a 'volunteer' or unpaid basis," a letter sent to the Lon Morris staff by Director of Human Resources Carolyn Nanni said.

Before the announcement Wednesday, the staff had not been paid for three payroll periods, according to staff members

"For this to happen...it's really hurtful. About three months we haven't gotten paid," Lon Morris defensive line football coach Eric Morris told CNN in a phone interview.

soundoff(31 Responses)

I hope they completely eliminated all sports, and cut top administrators' pay before making staff go without pay.

May 27, 2012 at 12:50 am |

UtahProf

Very doubtful – that is not the way these kinds of people think/operate. Yes, it is disgusting.

May 27, 2012 at 1:07 pm |

bvilleyellowdog

Regressive bible thumper business at it's worst.

May 26, 2012 at 4:28 pm |

g2

idiot.

May 27, 2012 at 11:36 am |

Gordo

Thats OBAMANOMICS for you!
--
Yep, put your faith in an invisible being that doesn't exist and you will fail.

May 26, 2012 at 12:44 pm |

El Flaco

It is sad to see little private colleges going belly-up. I am not a religious person, but I love freedom of thought. The fewer sources of thoght there are, the poorer our society is.

May 27, 2012 at 10:37 am |

Rob

The free market?

May 28, 2012 at 8:02 am |

Been there seen that

yes Texas does recieve more Federal aid then it pays in to the system in taxes. As a "Faith" based school it is not subject to government oversite or help on its operations. The staff went without pay in an act of faith that their employers would make up the pay at a later time once the current situation stablized. Nothing in the law sias if you were naive enouth to give them free labor that they acrually have to pay you. In our capitalist system naivity just meens you are a statistic waiting to happen. No one has to keep their word either in voice or on paper if you have a good lawyer to get you out of it.

May 26, 2012 at 10:24 am |

I had a dream

"Lon Morris College, a faith-based private school... "

Well, so much for the "faith" part.

May 26, 2012 at 9:46 am |

celisti

Why don't they cut the college president's salary in half first? Many top admin in colleges/universities got paid too much even when they don't have money to pay other staff or teachers.

May 26, 2012 at 9:41 am |

Curious

Does anyone else notice that one of the quoted staffers is a football coach??? A tiny religious-based 2 year school that doesn't have any money yet they had a football team. Really??????

May 26, 2012 at 7:29 am |

Join the 21st century

Sports is a big source of revenue. Where have you been the past 40 years?

May 26, 2012 at 9:44 am |

michael

II work for myself and II have volunteered at lots of places in my life. So what? When you work for some one only for money they own you. You are their b#@ch for money. It doesn't matter how much they pay you. You see a monkey with a diamond is still a monkey. Just like a B#@ch with a large paycheck is still a B@#ch. Until you work for your self or are employed doing what you beleive in and get paid ony as a secondary necessity you will not be free. At least volunteers that answer to only themselves are their own masters. Unlike you B@#ches scraping and crooning for someone else s dollar because you don't have what it takes to work for yourself. So do something that you think matters and join the human race. Or just go chase your little dollars being the little B@#ches that you are.

May 26, 2012 at 5:31 am |

Fed Up

I guess welfare trash "works" for me, then???

May 26, 2012 at 4:43 pm |

Jason Glugla

This is the Republican ideal. Keep voting against your own interests.

May 25, 2012 at 11:52 pm |

to "echo40"

You checked wrong. According to The Economist, which is one of the most reputable information sources, Texas generally pays more than it receives.

May 25, 2012 at 8:04 pm |

AJD

I would not work for no pay....after the first non payment I would be out the door and looking for a job that WOULD result in a pay check. Work for no pay or stay home with no pay....I'm staying home and using that time to find someone that will pay me for my work. No matter how much you enjoy your job or how much you "believe in" what you're doing, you still have to eat and have a roof over your head.

May 25, 2012 at 3:42 pm |

michael

Said like someone born to work for someone else. Me...I work for myself.

May 26, 2012 at 5:16 am |

Fed Up

I do work for "someone" else and they pay me well. Working for yourself can put you in touch with some of the dumbest bosses out there.

May 26, 2012 at 4:44 pm |

Fed Up

If I didn't see a paycheck after the first week, I would have immediately called my local or state labor board. To continue to be naive and report for work indicates acceptance of the non-payment conditions on some level and is incredibly stupid. The reason that these small colleges and VoTech's are failing is because they've mined the tax dollars enough and people have come forward to stop it. They loan the homeless money for classes at these schools! I certainly want people to get an education and be productive, but there have to be smarter guidelines in place. Not everyone can attend college or should, and certainly, not at my expense.

May 25, 2012 at 3:36 pm |

Darth Cheney

They should keep praying for their paychecks; however, having faith in the integrity of their Christian overlords didn't work out so well.

May 25, 2012 at 1:16 pm |

Frank Jimmies

Why would you continue to show up to a place where they weren't paying you?

May 25, 2012 at 11:25 am |

SuziG

Maybe because the teachers care about the students and wanted to finish out the school year so the students could get their credits and graduate. I was in the exact same situation 3 years ago at a small private high school, and I worked for 2 months without pay. Out of over 50 faculty and staff at our school, only 5 left during that time. Call us foolish, but we had our reasons. Part of it is caring for students who you've gotten to know well, part of it is that we had contracts that ran through August, and if we left, we would void any chance of getting back pay. In the end, we did get our back pay, and our students were able to have prom, graduation, and receive their credits. It was not an easy 2 months, but I would do it all over again for my kids.

June 5, 2012 at 12:44 pm |

echo40

Moron:
1. it is a private faith based college.
2. while I don't agree with the president on everything, He is actually tring to prop up education.
3. With "let Detroit bankrupt" Romney, More tax cut, more tax cut for the wealthy. you will end up with less money for education.
4. Last time I checked, Texas has a Repulitart government, and the entire stated gets more money from the Fed government then it gives in taxes.

so... really... you blame the president for this????

May 25, 2012 at 10:50 am |

Keith

Your Moronic, infantile language makes it difficult for me to think you actually came here to communicate. If you did however then it would be important for you to be aware that you are full of crap about Texas, we are one of the few States that send in more money than we get.

Another thing you should remember is that most of us here in Texas are Independent voters and even the registered Democrats and Republicans hardly ever vote a straight party ticket.

May 25, 2012 at 1:45 pm |

jim

Looks like someone exposed Texas' dirty little secret!

May 25, 2012 at 5:50 pm |

Keith

Is that a bad thing?

May 25, 2012 at 9:04 pm |

hamsta

Thats OBAMANOMICS for you!

May 24, 2012 at 9:24 pm |

Cyberduck

Please explain using logic how this is attributed to Obama. As an independent voter, people like you are the reason I vote for Obama.

May 26, 2012 at 2:42 pm |

you are stupid

Yes, Obama decided that out of all of the national crisis that he had to worry about, he would somehow come up with a plan to cut the funding to that small school. For no good reason. He'd do it just because. You're a fcking idiot.

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